Discovery of crude caption prompts recall of yearbook

Second time in three years high school has had problems in book.

Second time in three years high school has had problems in book.

December 10, 2006

COLUMBUS, Ind. (AP) -- A high school is recalling its 2005-2006 yearbook because an offensive comment was included in a caption next to photos of students playing basketball. A Columbus East High School student yearbook staff member discovered the sexually suggestive comment Thursday after about 250 of 650 "Altis" yearbooks had been distributed. School officials are investigating how the comment ended up next to a photo of a female basketball player shooting baskets. Principal Gary Goshorn said about 125 of the 250 distributed books were returned. He's asking students who have the remaining books to return them so a corrected page can be inserted. "It's something we're taking seriously, and we're sorry it happened," he said. The new page will have an edited caption and adhesive backing. Yearbook staffers will place the adhesive page on top of the current page, which is a sports team page. Rachelle Antcliff, yearbook supervisor at the school of about 1,400 students, estimated that printing a new page will cost less than $500 and that it will take staff members about four hours to apply it. She plans to pay for printing the new page. "I don't think that's something the school should have to pay," she said, noting that the yearbook goes through three levels of editing and she ultimately approves its content. Charlie Wells, an attorney for the Bartholomew Consolidated School Corp., said whoever inserted the comment could face legal action, such as having to pay for replacing the page. Goshorn said he apologized to the parents of the student whose name was next to the comment. This incident is the second time in three years "Altis" has been scrutinized at the school in the city 50 miles south of Indianapolis. In 2004, the yearbook included a picture of a student vomiting into a bucket and also identified another student as the "most likely to be a serial killer."